Minority Rights Group International (MRG) urges the Ugandan government to use constructive dialogue to resolve a persistent conflict between minority pastoralists (Banyarwanda and Banyankore), and indigenous cultivators (Bagungu and Banyoro) over grazing rights in Bunyoro, a region in western Uganda. At stake are the customary land rights of indigenous communities as well as the future of 7,000 pastoralists, who have been displaced after recent clashes. The pastoralists, who lead a nomadic lifestyle, searching for water and pasture for their animals, lay claim to the land, however the Indigenous communities dispute this. Read more...

MRG blog

We pulled up to a small mountain town in Kenya's Rift Valley, and got out of the car. I could see a few structures made of corrugated tin, some wooden benches, and the occasional goat or chicken wandering past, but few people. I then spotted a man walking towards us, who introduced himself as the local administrative chief of this location, one of sixteen remote Endorois outposts. Our visit had been arranged in advance, and the chief had been informed of our task for the day: to interview thirty Endorois men and women about the losses they had suffered as a result of their forceful eviction from their ancestral land, Lake Bogoria. Read more...

Other reports

Minority communities in Iraq have been targeted by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) in a systematic strategy to remove them permanently from large areas of Iraq, says a group of human rights organizations in a report launched in Brussels today.

The report provides critical information on the legal basis for war crimes prosecutions and follows a hearing on religious minorities in the European Parliament. Read more...

Resources

Peoples under Threat is Minority Rights Group’s annual authoritative rankings table which highlights those countries around the world where the risk of mass killing is greatest. As an early warning tool, the index has been widely used by UN officials and other human rights and conflict prevention practitioners. For the first time it's now been made available as an online map. Read more...